Tang Dynasty
Around the 8th century, the death penalty was abolished in the Tang Dynasty. Certain crimes would receive capital punishment depending on the seriousness of the crime. Two common forms of execution were strangulation and decapitation. Strangulation was for 144 offenses meanwhile decapitation was for 89 offenses. Extralegal forms of execution were also involved such as scourging and truncation. A person could have been scourged, or whipped, to death with a thick rod and truncation (cutting someone in half and letting them bleed out) was used as well. Ling Chi (slow slicing) was used from 900 until 1905 when it was abolished. Ling Chi is death by a thousand cuts.
Middle Ages
When the middle ages were around, prisons and jails weren't common so the death penalty was more common. Witchcraft was a common crime that many women were accused of. Tens of thousands of women were executed during the middle ages for claims of witchcraft. Sodomy, anal or oral sex with a non-human animal was also a crime to be put to death for during this time. Islam accepts capital punishment for apostasy (converting to another religion from Islam) and zina (consensual extramarital or homosexual sex). Punishments for these crimes can be Sharia, execution in public; Qisas, victim's decision of execution; Diyya, blood money restitution.
Modern Era
Capital punishment was later declared inhumane and the movement for abolition of the death penalty started. It also started because penitentiaries and jails along with police forces were increasing slowly and realization of natural and human rights came into effect. In England during the 18th century, there was no police force so the number of capital offenses was over 200. Those offenses were mainly property offenses but others were shoplifting, petty theft, or stealing cattle.
Contemporary Era
During the 20th century, there were millions of deaths because of war between nation-states and because of, infamously, the Holocaust. Other genocides include the Turkish assault on the Armenians, Khmer Rouge decimation of Cambodia, the massacre of the Tutsi's in Rwanda and more. In Nazi Germany, there were three different types of capital punishment which were hanging, decapitation, and death by shooting. Many communist nations would use the death penalty as a form of oppression. In the Soviet Union, more than a million citizens were executed during the Great Terror in 1937-1938. Most countries in the world including the European and Pacific Area states have abolished the death penalty. Political change influenced the abolition of capital punishment mainly. In the United States, most of the states have abolished the death penalty since 1846, such as Michigan, but there are states that still use it today.